Topic: Jb's takeaway base gravy

[jb]

I still visit my takeaway kitchen,there's a few new people in there but my chef friend is still there.I've watched him cook  just about everything on the menu and I've  also been there when he's done his prep work.Another chef has now joined from another takeaway that has recently shut down,he cooks on Mondays and Tuesdays so I'm going in the kitchen when he's there to see how he does things.I always buy a curry at the end of a night in the kitchen so everyone's happy,dread to think how much I've actually spent over the last couple of years,money well spent I tell the wife! Been home alone this weekend with the kids,had a takeaway Friday,went for a sit in curry Saturday and got another Sunday special takeaway on its way.....is that too much curry??

[Bing]

Hi

Jb you the Man the inspiration for me to start up my engine. Is an ebook available from You?

[haldi]

Hi

Jb you the Man the inspiration for me to start up my engine. Is an ebook available from You?

I'd buy one

[jb]

Been thinking about that for a while.Unfortunately I'm not really an IT expert so actually producing some sort of an Ebook would be a bit of a challenge for me.If I do manage to do such a thing I would definitely ask my chef for his help and input,he's such a nice bloke I'm sure he would be oblige.

[livo]

JB, I've just sat and read your first 100 - 150 or so posts on this site and followed some of the related threads a little bit as well.  I found a whole lot of really interesting stuff and re-read some things I've seen before.  Around mid to late 2010, after your lessons, you were visiting your local takeaways and still questioning a mystery ingredient and that special missing flavour element from your own dishes.

Did you ever actually put your finger on it?  Was it just the difference between the expectation you had of your own cooking v's a shop chef?

I know that when I walk past a Takeaway or Restaurant the aroma is intense and it arouses the senses wonderfully.  I'm fairly sure that Kasoori Methi is a big contributor to this. I get pretty good aroma at home but it just doesn't seem the same. Maybe due to me being inside from the start and perhaps my place smells intense to people outside.  Perhaps the aroma from a shop is due to the totality of the various dishes combined.

[jb]

A very good question.There is still is a distinctive smell I get when I walk past a certain restaurant close to where I live.It literally wafts through the streets and is wonderful.Having said that,my favourite restaurant,also close by doesn't have the same smell neither does my local takeaway kitchen that I regularly visit.They all produce top notch food so I really don't know why they produce 'that' smell.They're always very busy with punters so maybe it's just a case of the sheer number of curries they are cooking.

As discussed on here before, cooking yourself or being in a takeaway kitchen can really play tricks on your senses.If I cook a curry feast at home after a time I can detect very little aroma or any of that 'BIR' smell,yet if I return to the house later the my whole home smells like a curry house,it literally lingers for days.Imagine a busy curry house cooking like this every day and that's probably where that magic smell comes from.

I think my curries are as good as they're going to get now,I get takeaways sometimes and think I can do so much better.Having said that,I still go to some places and think 'wow' that is superb.All down to the chef,no mystery ingredient or nonsense like that,if there was such a thing I would have seen my chef use it over the past few years I've been in his kitchen.Back in 2010 I was still quite a novice at curry cooking.I brought all of the ebooks etc but there was still something missing,and that was technique and actually how to cook curries properly,none of the books went into this.The best thing for me was actually getting into a kitchen and watching how a proper chef cooks,better than all of the books put together.Not stiring the pan, literally burning the garlic in the initial fry(this is one thing all of the ebooks tell you not to do),all these things come together in a BIR kitchen to produce that distinctive taste and aroma

[jb]

Slightly off topic I know but I have to mention the quality of the naan breads I made at my last curry feast.A big thanks to Happy4chris(shame he just disappeared).If any one is still in any doubt that restaurant quality naan breads can't be done at home or without a tandoor then you're wrong.They are superb,actually better than some of the limp breads I sometimes get delivered.

[livo]

Great reply JB.  Pretty well confirms my thoughts.
A question though, So are you saying here that the garlic should be really fried hard, contrary to the written works? Is that what your actual curry kitchen observations reveal?

It would be explained by the authors not wanting to tell people to burn garlic, which is not a great taste. There is point where we'll done garlic becomes over done. It is probably better to have a less than perfect, but edible dish than something inedible due to a burnt initial stage.

[jb]

Great reply JB.  Pretty well confirms my thoughts.
A question though, So are you saying here that the garlic should be really fried hard, contrary to the written works? Is that what your actual curry kitchen observations reveal?

It would be explained by the authors not wanting to tell people to burn garlic, which is not a great taste. There is point where we'll done garlic becomes over done. It is probably better to have a less than perfect, but edible dish than something inedible due to a burnt initial stage.

Absolutely,the chef starts just about every curry with a chef spoon of oil followed by chopped garlic which has been sitting in a little oil in a tub.The garlic is browned,and I mean really browned but not burnt if that makes sense.I've only ever once  seen him throw the contents of a pan away,that was when he went to take a telephone order and he actually did burn the garlic.As I've said,just about every curry book I have tells you NOT to brown the garlic too much,but my chef does and I think it's part of the technique of getting the flavour right.Remember the garlic tarka that goes into my takeaway gravy,that's also cooked until its really brown and then added to give an extra depth of flavour.

[livo]

Gotcha. I'm doing a bit of a cook today. I've taken that on board.